COMMONSCUT

Commons Cut

What’s newly in the public domain, and exactly what you can and can’t use.

A free weekly newsletter for creators. Issue #1: Dracula and Frankenstein (1931) enter the U.S. public domain on January 1, 2027. Here’s exactly what you can (and can’t) use.

Free, every week.

from Half-In Productions

74 days to Jan 1, 2027

Issue #1 · Halloween 2026

Issue #1: Dracula & Frankenstein (1931)

At midnight on January 1, 2027, the two most famous horror films ever made enter the U.S. public domain. The films are free (and so, mostly, are the stage plays behind them), but the brands, a famous face, and a 1998 score are not.

What becomes free

  • The 1931 films, as released
  • Their original soundtracks
  • Mostly, the stage plays behind them
  • The novels (they always were)

What stays protected

  • The brands (live trademarks)
  • A famous face
  • A 1998 score
  • The sequels
  • AI “digital replicas” of the performers
A blurred preview of the Issue #1 cheat sheet: a table of things you might want to do, each with a green, red or amber verdict.

The cheat sheet

Subscribe to get the full issue

Clips, recuts, your own monsters, merch, AI scenes, ripping a Blu-ray: every “can I…?” gets a clear verdict, with links to the sources.

Not legal advice. Talk to a lawyer before commercial use.

The math

Why Jan 1?

U.S. works published in 1931 with a renewed copyright get 95 years, and terms run to the end of the calendar year. 1931 + 95 = 2026, so they’re free on Jan 1, 2027. (17 U.S.C. §305; Cornell public-domain chart)

Made for people who make things

Who it’s for

Video essayists

Posting a video essay with clips from the 1931 films: generally fine once they’re public domain.

Filmmakers

Re-edit, recut or re-score the 1931 films. Just skip the 1998 Glass score.

Animators & stop-motion makers

Drawing your own vampire or Shelley-based creature always was fine. The flat-top monster look has drawn a cease-and-desist before.

Game devs

The films become free, but the brands, a famous face and AI digital replicas don’t. Know the line before you ship.

Podcasters

The original 1931 soundtracks come with the films. The 1998 score doesn’t.

Haunt producers

The stage plays behind the films are mostly good news. Putting Karloff’s monster in an ad is not.

Check the can’t list

Merch sellers

“DRACULA” and “FRANKENSTEIN” are live Universal trademarks on posters, T-shirts, toys and more. Karloff’s monster face on a product: treat it as protected.

Educators

Plain-English verdicts with links to the statutes, records and sources, so you can show students the receipts.

No waiting until Jan 1

Free right now

Halloween art that’s already free to use or CC0. Each link is the archive’s record page (your receipt).

The Haunted Lane: an 1889 staged photograph of a startled man and a draped ghostly figure on a lane.
The Haunted Lane, photo by Melander, 1889
Library of Congress
Free to useView the LoC record
Cupid’s Skeleton: a printed broadside of dancing and posing skeleton figures with verses.
Cupid’s Skeleton, ca. 1892
The Met, Open Access
CC0View the Met record
Great Indian Fruit Bat: a watercolor of a large bat hanging with its wings spread.
Great Indian Fruit Bat, ca. 1777–82
The Met, Open Access
CC0View the Met record
Hallowe’en: a color etching of a bare tree on a hill above a coastline at dusk.
Hallowe’en
Smithsonian American Art Museum
CC0View the SAAM record

LoC labels items in its Free to Use sets as free to use. The individual records we spot-checked say “No known restrictions on publication.” Met Open Access images are CC0 (metmuseum/openaccess), and Smithsonian items were filtered to CC0 only.

Issue #1 is almost here

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from Half-In Productions